@EMBurlingame@TimOnPoint 🐼Last time I looked around VA Beach I saw plenty of exceptionally spawned warriors who just keep getting better at the mindsets & methods of war that keep days like this alive forever. 💗
Toshifumi Suzuki, the "father of the conbini" and the man who created the modern Japanese convenience store, has died at the age of 93.
He set up the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores in Japan in the 1970s and came up with the idea of selling onigiri, before being ousted in a power struggle in 2016.
Japan has police boxes everywhere.
They're called koban. Tiny ones on street corners, run by a few officers in shifts. About 14,000 across the country if you count the rural ones too.
You go there for stuff like asking directions, turning in a wallet you found, or reporting something. Honestly, a lot of people just stop by to say hi.
The officers walk around the neighborhood. They know who lives where. Kids wave at them on the way to school.
Singapore copied the whole system in 1983. Their crime rates dropped. Brazil and parts of the US have done the same.
Japan didn't make policing better.
They made it friendlier. 🇯🇵
🎏 May 5 is Children’s Day. Customs vary by region, with kashiwa mochi wrapped in oak leaves or chimaki wrapped in bamboo leaves 🍃 Both symbolize family prosperity. Koinobori carp streamers and May dolls—traditions wishing for children’s healthy growth—live on across Japan.
🌸 The pink cherry blossom (sakura) is Japan's beloved national flower. It's a symbol of beauty, renewal, and the fleeting nature of life (mono no aware).
🇯🇵 Next to is the Hinomaru (日の丸), our national flag: a red sun on white, representing the rising sun.
So lovely.
Steamboy, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, took nearly 10 years to complete, used over 180,000 hand-drawn frames, and remains one of the most expensive anime films ever produced.
This is the largest gun in our armoury. This 30mm ‘ozutsu’ used to belong to a samurai of the Takashima Clan, in modern day Suwa City. It weighs 17kg and takes a 50g charge when fired blank - as on this demonstration 💥
Left behind in Kabul. Alone. He waited 47 days.
K-9 Chaos was not a dog who did his job. He was a dog who had DECIDED, completely, permanently, without reservation, that Lieutenant Marcus Webb was coming back for him. No matter how long it took.
At Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, on the morning of August 30th, 2021, a three-year-old Belgian Malinois sat in an empty aircraft hangar. The last American plane had left six hours ago. The evacuation was over.
Chaos had been left behind.
Not intentionally. The chaos of the withdrawal. The panic. The rush. Webb had been separated from Chaos during the final evacuation. Put on a different plane. Told Chaos would be on the next flight.
There was no next flight.
Chaos survived the first day alone. Waiting at the hangar where Webb had left him.
Chaos survived the first week. Scavenging food from abandoned military supplies.
Chaos survived 47 days in Taliban-controlled Kabul. Alone. Hiding. Waiting.
Because Chaos survived on the belief that Webb wouldn't leave him forever.
Back in the United States, Webb was losing his mind. Filed reports. Called congressmen. Contacted rescue organizations. Went on the news.
"I left my dog in Afghanistan," he said on CNN, his voice breaking. "I left my brother. And I'm going to get him back."
The military said it was impossible. Kabul had fallen. Taliban controlled the airport. No way to extract a dog.
Webb didn't care about impossible.
He contacted Pineapple Express, a veteran-run extraction operation. Gave them Chaos's last known location. Sent photos. Videos. Anything that could help.
For 47 days, Webb didn't sleep. Didn't eat properly. Just waited for news.
On October 16th, 2021, his phone rang.
"We found him," the voice said. "We found Chaos."
A rescue team had infiltrated Kabul. Used Webb's intel. Found Chaos still at the hangar. Still waiting. Forty-seven days later.
Chaos was emaciated. Dehydrated. Traumatized.
But alive.
The extraction took three days. Smuggling Chaos out of Taliban-controlled territory. Through checkpoints. Through danger.
But they got him out.
On October 19th, 2021, Chaos landed at Dulles International Airport. Webb was waiting on the tarmac.
When they opened the crate, Chaos didn't move. Stared at Webb like he was seeing a ghost.
"It's me, brother," Webb said, kneeling down. "I came back. I promised I'd come back."
Chaos stepped out slowly. Walked to Webb. Collapsed into his arms.
The reunion video went viral. Seventeen million views in three days.
But what people didn't see was what happened after.
For six months, Chaos wouldn't sleep unless Webb was in the room. Wouldn't eat unless Webb fed him. Wouldn't go outside unless Webb went first.
"He's terrified I'll leave him again," Webb said in an interview. "And I don't blame him. I left him once. In the worst place. At the worst time. He waited 47 days for me. And I'll spend the rest of my life making sure he knows I'm never leaving again."
Three years later, Chaos still sleeps with his head on Webb's chest. Still follows him everywhere.
Still making sure Webb doesn't disappear.
K-9 Chaos. Survived 47 days alone in Kabul. Extracted by heroes. Reunited with his handler. Home.
https://t.co/t4eYGPJPrk
#LostAndFound
#doglover #seniordogs #animalwelfare #militarydog #k9hero #dogrescue #Kabul #47Days #LeftBehind #BroughtHome